What do you think of science fiction?

[continuum.mid]

Speculative fiction in general, and science fiction specifically, is my favorite genre of fiction. It gets me thinking about technology, science, politics, and the possibilities for the future. I'm pretty sure there are other fans of it here, because the description of the Console Doom forum contains a reference to the sci-fi novel 2010: Odyssey Two. So what do you all think of sci-fi, and what are your favorite science fiction novels/movies/games/etc?

 

Some of my favorite sci-fi media, to start with:

• Star Trek (the whole franchise) - my favorite media franchise probably. The Next Generation is my favorite TV show. At its best, it is both fun and thought-provoking, with great characters and stories. The current shows aren't as bad as people say, just different.
• Doctor Who (TV series, haven't gotten into the radioplays etc) - This show has really changed a lot across its 57-year history. My favorite Doctors are 3, 10, and 11, though I like a lot of the other Doctors' adventures.
• Contact (book and movie) - one of my favorite movies, and my favorite depiction of first contact, following a SETI scientist who discovers and decodes an extraterrestrial message. I really don't want to spoil anything else about it.
• Space Odyssey series (four novels and two movies) - everybody loves 2001: A Space Odyssey, but not many people know that it had three sequels in the form of novels, and they're actually good! Arthur C. Clarke is an excellent science and science-fiction writer; his prose is very much comparable to that of Carl Sagan.
• Psycho-Pass (Anime TV series and two movies) - during my brief adventure into anime, I didn't find anything better than this. The first season is of particular note. A very well-written exploration of the impact of technology and the ideas of utopia and dystopia, among other things, on top of just being a good mystery and good cyberpunk.

Edited March 17, 2021 by northivanastan

[Silhouette 03]

Science fiction is a pretty broad genre, and I'd like to think that a lot of sub genres were born from it. "Pure"( I'm sure someone is going to comment on the use of this word) sci-fi such as star trek and Doctor Who don't particularly interest me, though I do enjoy the Original star wars trilogy. I'm more impartial to the sub genres of Sci-Fi, such as dystopian and cyberpunk. I'll leave my favorite Sci-Fi nerd stuff here:

• 1984 by George Orwell: A fantastically descriptive and horrifying vision of a future that could be, and a message about the nature of truth, control and resistance that is still relevant today. Incredibly bleak and depressing, but in the end, left me with hope.
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: A novel that handles the subject of censorship, and what censorship can do to a society. The character development of the protagonist is also noteworthy, as well as the writers use of metaphors. Just please don't watch the film.... Just... don't...
• The Vagrant trilogy by Peter Newman: A mixture of Science fiction and post apocalyptic themes, this series is one of my all time favourites. The first novel has an interesting concept, in that the protagonist is completely mute. His character is revealed through his actions, similar to protagonists in 90's FPS's. The world in which the trilogy takes place is fascinating, and gradually builds upon itself without becoming too complex or overwhelming. I can't say enough good things about this series.
•  Trigun, the manga:  Trigun is a mixture of Sci-fi, western and comedy that blends together so well. The characters are all likable and have a lot of depth to them, especially the protagonist. Massively underrated.

I know I'm relatively new here, but trust me on this one. I know what I'm talking about... mostly....

[continuum.mid]

9 minutes ago, Silhou3tte said:

Science fiction is a pretty broad genre, and I'd like to think that a lot of sub genres were born from it. "Pure"( I'm sure someone is going to comment on the use of this word) sci-fi such as star trek and Doctor Who don't particularly interest me, though I do enjoy the Original star wars trilogy. I'm more impartial to the sub genres of Sci-Fi, such as dystopian and cyberpunk. I'll leave my favorite Sci-Fi nerd stuff here:

• 1984 by George Orwell: A fantastically descriptive and horrifying vision of a future that could be, and a message about the nature of truth, control and resistance that is still relevant today. Incredibly bleak and depressing, but in the end, left me with hope.
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: A novel that handles the subject of censorship, and what censorship can do to a society. The character development of the protagonist is also noteworthy, as well as the writers use of metaphors. Just please don't watch the film.... Just... don't...
• The Vagrant trilogy by Peter Newman: A mixture of Science fiction and post apocalyptic themes, this series is one of my all time favourites. The first novel has an interesting concept, in that the protagonist is completely mute. His character is revealed through his actions, similar to protagonists in 90's FPS's. The world in which the trilogy takes place is fascinating, and gradually builds upon itself without becoming too complex or overwhelming. I can't say enough good things about this series.
•  Trigun, the manga:  Trigun is a mixture of Sci-fi, western and comedy that blends together so well. The characters are all likable and have a lot of depth to them, especially the protagonist. Massively underrated.

I know I'm relatively new here, but trust me on this one. I know what I'm talking about... mostly....

Only one of those I've read is Fahrenheit 451, and I agree that it's a really interesting book. I'm planning to read 1984 soon, as well. Some of these would be better described as "speculative fiction" than "science fiction," though the genres blend together sometimes.

 

Also, your description of TriGun (the manga) sounds exactly like Cowboy Bebop.

[Silhouette 03]

Just now, northivanastan said:

Some of these would be better described as "speculative fiction" than "science fiction,"

Heh, sorry. I wasn't sure what to call it, since there are many sub genres.

2 minutes ago, northivanastan said:

your description of TriGun (the manga) sounds exactly like Cowboy Bebop.

Very much in the same vein as Cowboy Bebop, in that there are strong characters and the comedic aspect are present in both. The reason that I called it "the manga" is that there is an anime adaptation based on the manga, but I believe it was never completed due to lack of funding, sadly.

[Kurogachii]

Well.. to answer the main question, thanks to science fiction D00M exists, so yeah, science fiction ROCKS!!

[Mr. Freeze]

I don't read fiction but I enjoyed Steve Alten novels in high school. 

[seed]

My personal favorite genre, after superhero stuff.

 

Most games I play tend to be sci-fi in nature or with such elements 🦊.

[Redneckerz]

32 minutes ago, northivanastan said:

Only one of those I've read is Fahrenheit 451, and I agree that it's a really interesting book. I'm planning to read 1984 soon, as well. Some of these would be better described as "speculative fiction" than "science fiction," though the genres blend together sometimes.

 

Also, your description of TriGun (the manga) sounds exactly like Cowboy Bebop.

Brave New World, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, 1984. Oh, and Dune.

 

Its good shit.

[Doom_Dude]

When I was a kid my dad and I would watch every new sci-fi show that appeared on TV. . We watched all those lame Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (fuck that bididididididi robot) and Space 1999 (awesome ships tho) shows, etc... I watched The Original Star Trek at a time when there was no Star Wars or Next Generation. So to date my favorite sci-fi show is TOS. Earth 2 was shitty.

• Star Trek. Enjoy all of the series. Favorites are TOS, TNG and DS9. Lower Decks is pretty fun too. Discovery is at the bottom of the barrel for me. Plus the films like The Undiscovered Country Voyage Home and Wrath of Khan.
• Star Wars. Original trilogy. Saw A New Hope in 77. Good times.
• Alien series, especially love the 2nd film, Aliens.
• Space Above & Beyond. I haven't seen it in years but I recall it was a fun watch. Too bad it got cancelled.
• Dr Who. I have a lot of the various seasons to watch yet. Fun series tho.
• Stargate SG-1. Lots of good stuff in there.
• Farscape. That was a fun show. I didn't quite finish watching it when NetFlix took it off.
• Firefly. Fun stuff.
• Battlestar Galactica. The 2004 -2009 series was fun to watch. The end was stupid but oh well... I remember enjoying the original series too, some of which was lame-o. haha.
• Various films.... 2001: A Space Odyssey, Event Horizon, Enemy Mine, District 9, Outland, Blade Runner, Sunshine, Battle Los Angeles, Total Recall, The Martian (2015), Mission To Mars, Predator, Interstellar, The Terminator, The Thing...
• I like a lot of sci-fi books and I have a thing for reading older stuff. Andre Norton, Alan Dean Foster, Harry Harrison, C.J. Cherryh, Larry Niven, L. E. Modesitt, Jr......
• Big fan of the oldschool Sword and Planet sub-genre of sci-fi which started for me when reading Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom / John Carter novels back in the day and Lin Carter's Green Star novels and Alan Burt Aker's Drey Prescot series. Sucks they ruined the only John Carter film... heh.

I'm probably forgetting a bunch of stuff. Tired, lazy and need a nap.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Doom_Dude

[Bridgeburner56]

Science Fiction is fantastic (although I lean more towards fantasy over all). Some of my favourite writers:

Dan Simmons - Top of the pile and easily one of my all time favourite writers. The Hyperion/Endymion quadrilogy is hardcore sci fi of the absolute highest order. Dan weaves in historical literature and poetry into his stories in a seemless skein that always leaves me in awe. Hi Illium/Olympus series manages to combine super future sci fi, Homer's The Odyssey and Shakespeare's The Tempest and somehow link it all together in a way that makes absolute sense. Although I didn't quite undestand that one till the second time through. Absolutely unreal talent.

Peter F. Hamilton - A much more tradtional sci fi writer, Peter excels at creating a believable future society and provides high levels of detail to make the reader believe in the story. His stories tend to be a complete arc and don't leave a whole lot of loose threads. The Night's Dawn Trilogy would be be favourite of his and has one of the all time great evil antagonists. One of the nastiest characters ever created. 

Ian M. Banks - Not all of Ian's stuff hits the mark but when it does it is fantastic stuff. A never ending trail of stories, The Culture series is an on going saga with a multitude of story arcs and character threads. Some stand alone, some covering several books, almost always a rollicking good read. Surface Detail would be my favourite so far and not only because it literally has hell in it :D

Greg Bear - Going slightly more old school, Greg was a massive force for me in the 90s being one of the first sci fi writers I got heavily into. I remember the first time I read Eon and the feeling of my mind collapsing onto itself as the implications of the story unfolded. Seriously hardcore concepts and not sugar coated in much finery, Eon and Eternity are worth ploughing into if you can get past the heavy prose. Special shout out to Songs of Earth and Power. While it is more on the fantasy side of things it one of my all time favourites and is truly unique.

Frank Herbert - Dune. 'nuff said. An iconic piece of writing that has not dated in the slightest despite being written in 1965 this is a must read for any sci fi fan. Just don't read any more unless you want a serious acid trip diving head first into weird existentialism. And for the love of all that is holy, avoid Brian Herbert's Dune books. Unreadable.

Jeff VanderMeer - Writer of the Annihilation and this is the most visceral, surreal and unknowable series I've ever read. Just ..... freakishly awesome. Prepare to have your mind turned into a pretzel (yes this is what the movie was based off).

That'll do for now, I could go on for days :D

 

 

[[McD] James]

I'm reading Dune Messiah and am currently watching the Doctor Who serial; The Time Monster right now. 

[yakfak]

i love Ursula K Leguin and Samuel R Delany and the Mars Trilogy and Phillip K Dick and JG Ballard and all that

I also like Cyberpunk stuff, was reading City Came Awalkin' recently. as well as the Shadowrun rulebooks which feel like science fiction books in their own right

read too many apocalypse novels about climate emergency and the fascism which crops up as a result and, well, it feels a bit awkward now to have had all these warnings and still be where we be =P

[NoXion]

Science fiction was the earliest genre of fiction to set my imagination on fire. I went through a phase of preferring fantasy during early puberty, but the lure of entire galaxies of possibilities was strong enough to eventually pull me back before I left school. I've watched Star Trek TNG, Deep Space Nine, Red Dwarf, Babylon Five and Farscape multiple times. Early on the things I read included classics by H.G. Wells such as The War of the Worlds and The First Men In The Moon. Later on I got into reading stuff by Iain M. Banks, Stephen Baxter, and Greg Egan, as well as giving Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and 2001 a go. There's probably loads I'm missing out, I know that I haven't really read any of Niven's stuff, although I probably should.

Looking at my Steam library it looks like a lot of the games there have some kind of science fictional theme or setting going on.

This thread reminds me, I need to catch up with the latest season of The Expanse. Awesome world-building, it seems like you hardly ever see any Solar system scale human civilisations being depicted in live action on the small screen, plus once the story gets going it's a compelling watch.

[Omniarch]

I love it, always have and always will. Whether it be in books, games, anime, tv or movies, whether it be hard, soft, military etc I love it all. To the extent that kid me managed to write ~150,000 words of cheesy space opera, spread across a variety of (sadly unfinished) stories. I still spin vast dramatic tales of interstellar war, though now confined to my head due to sloth :/

 

In general, space opera is my favourite sub-genre. Who can say no to galaxy-spanning wars, giant spaceships and geo(galacto?)politics. I can't tell you how many hours I spent lore-diving on Wookieepedia and Warhammer wiki, coming up with elaborate head-canons for the vast array of space strategy games I used to play, staring at Lego spaceships on Brickipedia, reading novel after novel and watching every piece of animated space opera I could find (and uncovering few surprising hidden gems along the way).

[continuum.mid]

9 minutes ago, NoXion said:

This thread reminds me, I need to catch up with the latest season of The Expanse. Awesome world-building, it seems like you hardly ever see any Solar system scale human civilisations being depicted in live action on the small screen, plus once the story gets going it's a compelling watch.

I was actually just starting on The Expanse. It hasn't "gotten going" yet but what I have seen indicates that it's going to be great when it does.

 

Now that I think of it, The Expanse is indeed the only example I can recall of a Solar System-scale human civilization on live-action TV. I've read Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, 2061, and 3001, but those haven't had TV adaptations, and I've seen Cowboy Bebop, but that's animated. Might be a few others that I forgot about.

9 minutes ago, NoXion said:

I've watched Star Trek TNG, Deep Space Nine, Red Dwarf, Babylon Five and Farscape multiple times. Early on the things I read included classics by H.G. Wells such as The War of the Worlds and The First Men In The Moon. Later on I got into reading stuff by Iain M. Banks, Stephen Baxter, and Greg Egan, as well as giving Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and 2001 a go.

Lots of my favorite stuff is in there, I enjoyed H. G. Wells too.

Edited March 17, 2021 by northivanastan

[1Destro3456]

3 hours ago, Silhou3tte said:

Science fiction is a pretty broad genre

Pretty much, it mixes well with any other genre, be that horror, adventure, action, comedy, etc. most likely it mixes well with it

[Artman2004]

Aliens and Starship Troopers are pretty great sci-fi action films IMO. Doom 3 nails its sci-fi theme quite well without leaning too far into the "Halo" style.

 

Honestly, I prefer my sci-fi with some level of grounded realism and retro-futurism. Aliens with its Vietnam-war-style marines, and Starship Troopers with its, well, troopers with their somewhat goofy armor.

[continuum.mid]

40 minutes ago, Artman2004 said:

Aliens and Starship Troopers are pretty great sci-fi action films IMO. Doom 3 nails its sci-fi theme quite well without leaning too far into the "Halo" style.

 

Honestly, I prefer my sci-fi with some level of grounded realism and retro-futurism. Aliens with its Vietnam-war-style marines, and Starship Troopers with its, well, troopers with their somewhat goofy armor.

I've been thinking about reading/watching Starship Troopers for a long time. Not only because it's good action, but because I'm told it's really interesting as a satire as well.

 

After watching a lot of hard sci-fi, it's hard for me to consider Aliens and Starship Troopers, or rather what I have seen of them, very realistic. But I do like the more realistic side of sci-fi, and retro-futurism as well.

Edited March 17, 2021 by northivanastan

[Rytrik]

2 hours ago, [McD]James said:

I'm reading Dune Messiah and am currently watching the Doctor Who serial; The Time Monster right now. 

 

I have Dune Messiah on my shelf as my next fiction read. Dipping my toe into Stephen King's "The Stand" first. OG Dune was great. Excited to start Messiah.

 

 

1 hour ago, northivanastan said:

I was actually just starting on The Expanse. It hasn't "gotten going" yet but what I have seen indicates that it's going to be great when it does.

 

Have you read the books that The Expanse is based on? I finished the first book, ''Leviathan Wakes" by James Corey, last night. Good book. Looking forward to the next ones.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Rytrik

[continuum.mid]

2 minutes ago, Rytrik said:

 

I have Dune Messiah on my shelf as my next fiction read. Dipping my toe into Stephen King's "The Stand" first. OG Dune was great. Excited to start Messiah.

 

 

 

Have you read the books that The Expanse is based on? I finished the first book, ''Leviathan Wakes" by James Corey, last night. Good book. Looking forward to the next ones.

I was planning to read the books first, but usually books feel more like time commitments to me than TV, especially when I am also reading something for school, so I figured if I waited until I had read all of the books, I'd never get around to watching it.

 

Regardless, I do keep hearing that the books are good.

[Rytrik]

1 hour ago, northivanastan said:

I was planning to read the books first, but usually books feel more like time commitments to me than TV, especially when I am also reading something for school, so I figured if I waited until I had read all of the books, I'd never get around to watching it.

 

Regardless, I do keep hearing that the books are good.

 

That makes complete sense. Balancing your school book reading with some TV.

 

Though I do have to say.. the book IS good :)

Edited March 18, 2021 by Rytrik

[Stupid Bunny]

I've just finished God Emperor of Dune, which as I pointed out in another thread I found fascinating.  Although I can see why it polarizes Dune fans to read accounts of an ancient, mopey worm giving intentionally annoying sermons for several hundred pages.  I'm taking a bit of a break before getting to the last two books which I've heard are the real weird shit (I'm excited).  All of which is to say, yes, I love the Dune novels.

 

I also enjoyed Asimov's robot novels, as well as Foundation which was also a bit turgid but nonetheless so conceptually brilliant that I couldn't put it down.  And The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one I have to reread from time to time, so many great quips in there.

 

I haven't read much other sci-fi, mostly because 95% of my reading is history and biography.  As far as visual media go I love the Alien movies to death, anything John Carpenter is great (well most things anyway), and I'm never sure which of the original series, DS9, or TNG I like most.  I guess they're all good for different moods.  Star Trek V is good for a lol, for example.  For a darker, more mindfucking lol Brazil is one of my favorite movies of all time, as once again anything Terry Gilliam touches turns to gold.  Oh yeah and obligatory Blade Runner mention

 

I grew up loving Star Wars, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, although under the surface it's definitely much more a fantasy than sci-fi series.  I guess we don't need to get into a pedantic thing about what is what though, the point is Star Wars is good fun and has made some great memes

[Sotenga]

I did actually have a project keeping me sane throughout 2020 that turned out to last about six months: View the entirety of Star Trek that was available on Netflix. I had seen most of TOS and TNG before and their corresponding movies, but it was great to fill in the gaps. And then I went on to mostly enjoy DS9 despite the last two seasons making me grumble in some ways. Then I got to Voyager, which honestly turned out better than I expected. Then I got to Enterprise.

 

... we don't speak of Enterprise. 

 

But then I went on to Picard and Lower Decks and liked those quite a bit. It was a hell of a journey that I really enjoyed for the most part. Not sure about getting into Discovery, though.

 

And, of course, I've always been a fan of Star Wars and I mostly like what's being done with the series now... okay, Rise of Skywalker wasn't good, but that's neither here nor there. 

 

Also, Robocop is my number-one favorite movie of all time. It's many genres, but I'd say sci-fi counts as one of them. That which I cheekily call Paul Verhoeven's "Die-Fi Trilogy" are all must watches, those being Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers. 

 

Also also, I remember finishing college by reading Dune in my time waiting for graduation, and that was definitely worth it. I saw the David Lynch adaptation and it's honestly not Lynch's worst film. It has faults but it attempted an impossible task and didn't do that badly, IMO. 

 

Now I woefully admit I'm behind on my sci-fi TV series besides Star Trek, but I can rattle off some more movies of the genre I love. 

 

-Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies ever. The latter two films ain't bad either.

-Alien, Aliens, and I honestly didn't think Alien 3 was that bad

-Predator, and the underrated Predator 2

-Blade Runner, and BR2049 wasn't bad either

-The first two Terminators count as well, and... I saw T3 too, I guess. Yup.

-Honestly, I still think the first Matrix is really good. The sequels, ehhhhhhhh... much less so.

-Flight of the Navigator! I don't see this one talked about much nowadays, but it's a great adventure.

-As sci-fi tends to cross over into the horror realm a lot, I must confess my favorite horror film ever is The Thing.

-On that note, I'm a huge Carpenter mark and Escape from New York is excellent. Escape from L.A.... less so.

-They Live is another favorite. Unsubtle and proud of it.

-Both the fifties and seventies versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers were great.

-Event Horizon, which I swear inspired TNT Revilution's Transduction.

-The Running Man. It inspired Smash TV, how can I not like it?

-Does Ghostbusters count? I'm counting it if so. And GB2 is underrated.

-The Bill and Ted trilogy as it can now be called. Face the Music was kind of my favorite movie last year by default.

 

There's probably more, but I think that's a good scope of my tastes for now!

[continuum.mid]

Just now, Sotenga said:

But then I went on to Picard and Lower Decks and liked those quite a bit. It was a hell of a journey that I really enjoyed for the most part. Not sure about getting into Discovery, though.

Discovery isn't perfect, but it gets better in each season. You can skip to S3 if you don't want to watch it all, it's a bit of a soft reset.

 

Also, Back to the Future and Blade Runner are excellent movies. Both of them would definitely go in my top ten sci-fi movies. I really liked BR2049 too; Blade Runner shouldn't have had a sequel, but BR2049 is almost the best that a sequel to Blade Runner could possibly have been.

[Sotenga]

2 minutes ago, northivanastan said:

I really liked BR2049 too; Blade Runner shouldn't have had a sequel, but BR2049 is almost the best that a sequel to Blade Runner could possibly have been.

It definitely came off far better than it should have. Not even Jared Leto could bring it down too much!

[Tony_Danza_the_boss]

Sci-Fi is a staple of entertainment for me, movies to books to games in general. That being said, I gravitate much more towards old-school sci fi if you could call it that. The Dune series to me is one of the greatest book series around, and while I don't quite feel the same about the later entries, the first book is a masterpiece. If we can go off the trailers, Denis Villneuve's new film coming out later looks excellent as well.

[Urthar]

I predominately read science fiction and tend to graviate towards novels involving world building and big ideas.

 

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

Dune - Frank Herbert

Great Sky River - Gregory Benford

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

Blood Music - Greg Bear

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Use of Weapons - Ian M Banks

Saturn's Children - Charles Stross

Artemis - Andy Weir

Edited March 18, 2021 by Urthar

[Eurisko]

I couldn't live without it.

[Taw Tu'lki]

Enjoy Bradbury's stories, Roger Zelazny, Phillip Jose Farmer.

Love Star Wars, Dune and something from sci-fi.

[Vic Vos]

Frankly, kinda sick of it. Fantasy too, for that matter.